Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There was never a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. John Adams
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[T]he whole theory of a free government is opposed to such grants. Mr. Justice Stephen Field
Justice Stephen Field: Shaping Liberty from the Gold Rush to the Gilded Age, by Paul Kens. University Press of Kansas, 1997.
If everything isn’t black and white, I say, ‘Why the hell …
If everything isn’t black and white, I say, ‘Why the hell not?’ John Wayne
We must remember that free minds and free markets are the moral …
We must remember that free minds and free markets are the moral foundation that have enabled [Silicon Valley’s] success, and never allow those freedoms to be diminished. T.J. Rodgers
President and CEO of Cypress Semiconductor Corp, Wall Street Journal, February 8, 1999
The Court’s attempt to distinguish the communication inherent in political contributions …
The Court’s attempt to distinguish the communication inherent in political contributions from the speech aspects of political expenditures simply ‘will not wash.’ We do little but engage in word games unless we recognize that people-candidates and contributors-spend money on political activity because they wish to communicate ideas, and their constitutional interest in doing so is precisely the same whether they or someone else utters the words. Chief Justice Burger
Partial Dissent/Partial Concurrence of Chief Justice Burger in Buckley v. Valeo
It is necessary for us to learn from others’ mistakes. You will …
It is necessary for us to learn from others’ mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself. Hyman Rickover
I could never turn against or show the least lack of loyalty …
I could never turn against or show the least lack of loyalty to my family since this is in sharp contradiction with the family values I was brought up on–the values that continue to sustain my lifeblood and determine my mental life more effectively thananything else. Indeed, the faith I have in these values deepens day after day, so much that I have come to believe that only adherence to such values can savesociety–that there can be hope only for a society which acts as one big family and not as many separate ones. Anwar Sadat
President of Egypt
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[T]here is practically universal agreement that a major purpose of [the First] Amendment was to protect the free discussion of governmental affairs . . . [including] discussions of candidates . . . U.S. Supreme Court
Mills v. Alabama, 384 U.S. 214, 218 (1966)
My wife is always trying to get rid of me. The other …
My wife is always trying to get rid of me. The other day she told me to put the garbage out. I said to her I already did. She told me to go and keep an eye on it. Rodney Dangerfield
The whole drama of the world is such a tragedy that I …
The whole drama of the world is such a tragedy that I am weary of the spectacle. John Adams
On the eve of his and George Washington’s 2nd innauguration. 1735-1826, American diplomat and 2nd President of the United States from 1797-1801